Improvement in bee-hives



(beirut @fine JOSEPH BEHE, `Oli" CARROLLTOWN, PENNSYLVANIA.

l Letters Patent No. 108,960, dated November 8, 187i).

v IMPROVEMENT IN BEE-HIVES.

The Schedule referred to in these Letters Patent and part of the seme.

To all whom it may concern; i

Be it known that I, JOSEPH Bunn, of Garrolltown, in the county ofCambria and State of Pennsylvania, have invented a certain new anduseful Improvement in Bee-Hives; and iI do hereby declare the followingto be a full, clear, and exact description thereof', suiicient to enablethose skilled in the art to which my'V invention relates to fullyunderstand and to make and use the same, reference being had totheaccompanying drawing forming in which y Figure 1 is a longitudinalcentral section ofmy iniproved bee-hive, and :jl

Figure 2 is a view, partly'v in plan and partly' secpalt oi thisspeeilication, and

tional, of the lower part of the hive, the plane of .secf

tion being indicated by'the line y y in g. 1.

This' invention consists in the general construction and arrangement ofparts, as hereinafter fully described and claimed. V

Similar letters of reference indicate like parts in' the two. figures.

The basement of my hive, which contains the comb-frames, is made in twosections, A A','eon

strncted with bottoms, a a', inclined in opposite directions, and withledges, b b, for the support of the comb-frames c c; y

Each section A A is provided with a glassfrout, d, which is covered-byAa slidefe, under which is the beeentrauce f.

In the edge of oneof the sections are fitted pins, g g, which entercorresponding recesses in the other sections, to connect the partstogether; and this connection is strengthened by overlapping verticalstrips or battens, 71, secured to' one or the other of the sections.

'lhe parts A A' are held in contact and prevented from separating by theupper partB of the hive, which iits' down over the upper edges 'of thesections, and rests on the tops of the hatteus h.

The ends .t t' of the sections A A project below the kottoms aa thereof,and constitute supports for the ive.

all equally distant from the inclined floor. of the hive.

On top of the sections A A' is placed a oor, C, provided with three longopenings, lm l.

lhe central opening, fm, is covered with wire-gauze n, to prevent thepassage of moths and other intrud- This Hoor is made with verticalstrips at the sides.

The pendant comb-frames are braced, at theirlowcr- D D are thehoney-boxes, m'ade with glass fronts and openings, o p', correspondingto the openings in the ioor'C.l Ihese boxe'sare so placed on the saidfloor that the openings in the latter register with those inthe bottomsof the boxes. The openings in the tops of the boxes are covered, likethe opening m, i

with wire-gauze.

The upper part B of the box or hive is, preferably, provided vwith apeaked roof, and is divided, by a horizontalpartition, g, intocompartments, the upper one, T, of which isthe moth-trap. i l

"Inthe door of the latter is au opening, u, similar to and immediatelyover that in the door O, and is, in likemanner, protected with gauze.

In each endet' the moth-trap is au opening, one of which is fitted witha xed glass window, r, while the other is provided with a sliding door,s.

In openings in the sides'of the trap, in one end, near the sliding door,are inserted. tubes, t t, which enter the trap oblique'ly, andconstitute the ventrances thereto.

I It will be seen that the air, which enters the lower y part of thehive, passes up between all the comb` frames,vand, by way of the opening'In and through.

the houeyboxes when empty orpartially filled, enters the space betweenthe doors C. q, and thence through the opening in the latter vfloor,passes into the moth-- trap, whence it escapes at the tubes t t,carryingwith it the scent from the hive. This draws the moths and otherinjurious insects which enter the trap lthrough the tubes t,- and, beingattracted by the light.

from the glass window r, they fail to nd the openings at which they camein, and are prevented from obtaining access to the lower part of thehive by the gauze which covers the openings leading thereto.

. ,After lifting off the top of the hive and the surplus honey-boxes,the sections A A can be separated from each other, lialf of thecomh-framesremaining in each' part.

By this construction Iam enabled to separate the hive of bees instead ofallowing them to swarm; for instance, taking two hives, one `containingbees, and the other empty, II separate the sections, and applyanempty-section to'each full one, and thus provide two working-hivesofbees.

From the above description, it will he seen that, inI

this hive, of simple and practicalvconstruction, the features of perfectventilation, protection against moths, and their destruction, and theprevention of v swarming, are so cpmbiued as to render the inventionvaluable to thoseengaged, for pleasure or' profit, in

`the culture of bees.

Having thus desci'ibed my invention, and moth-tmp T, all constructed andurzmged sub- NVhat I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letstantiallyas herein described and shown.

ters Patent, is v 4JOSEPH BEHE.

An improved bee-hive, composedof the detacbm- Witnesses:

yble sections A A', top B, oor O, honey-boxes D, and y HENRY SCANLAN;4

comb-frames c, with the Ventilating-apertures um oo, F. BEARER.

